The invention relates broadly to a child car seat for the protection and restraint of a child or infant while in a vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to a convertible car seat having an improved universal attachment that provides convenient and effective relocation of the universal attachment for converting between a rearward facing and forward facing child car seat restraint.
Vehicles, such as cars and vans, are presently equipped with occupant restraining seat belts installed by manufacturers of automobiles. While such seat belts are adequate for restraining adults in the event of a sudden stop, collision or other emergency, most are inadequate for protecting of small children and infants. As a result, a variety of specially designed child restraint devices have been designed and developed and are in widespread use today. Child car seats are indeed required by all states as a matter of law for use with infants and children who are of such size that a standard vehicle seat belt does not afford adequate protection. Conventional child car seats typically utilize the vehicle seat belt provided by the vehicle manufacturer to secure the child seat to the vehicle.
Most vehicles today come equipped with a three-point seat belt system, which is either formed from a lap belt and a shoulder harness joined together in a non-movable latch plate or one continuous belt having a movable or dropping latch plate separating the lap belt portion from the shoulder harness portion. In either configuration, the latch plate is coupled together at one end for releasable securement by the wearer to a buckle at a first fixed point on the car seat adjacent the wearer. The lower belt is the horizontal lap belt extending over the wearer""s lap to an adjacent second fixed point. The second or shoulder belt extends transversely from the buckle or anchor, angling upwardly across the wearer""s chest and shoulder, to an elevated fixed third point.
Convertible child car seats, i.e., seats capable of being used in a rear-facing or forward facing orientation, are well known in the field. Depending on the desired orientation, the vehicle seat belt must generally be threaded through the child car seat in a different way to securely fasten the seat to the vehicle. See, for example, Kain, U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,999. The improper installation of a child car seat in a vehicle, in either orientation, is a very real possibility. It is a matter of law in all states that a child weighing less than 20 pounds (or generally one year of age) must be placed in a child car seat secured in a vehicle in a rear-facing, more reclined direction until their body develops sufficiently and can withstand the forces involved in a crash when forward facing. Once the child weighs more than 20 pounds, the child may be secured in the car seat positioned in a forward-facing, more upright orientation.
New Federal safety standards under FMVSS213 and 225 now require performance that mandates a tether system that secures the child car seat to the vehicle frame. Typically, three anchor points are provided by the vehicle manufacturer: one point located between the seat back of the vehicle rear seat and the vehicle parcel shelf, and two points located at or near the seat bight (i.e., the junction of the vehicle seat bottom and the vehicle seat back). A center tether is secured to the vehicle anchor located on the rear parcel shelf. Left and right side tethers are secured to the vehicle anchors located at or near the seat bight. This tether anchoring system permits the child car seat to be secured to hard points of the vehicle without relying on the vehicle""s seat belts. Standard FMVSS225 further requires that child car seats must be capable of attaching to a vehicle""s permanent anchors, as well as the vehicle seat belts.
It is known to provide a car seat tether system with one set of attachments to accommodate a forward-facing position and another set of attachments to accommodate a rearward-facing position for the child car seat. However, the known convertible child car seats which provide a tether anchoring system that are convertible between a forward-facing and rearward-facing position suffer from one or more of following drawbacks. The seats are either complicated to operate, expensive to manufacture, or do not provide a restraint configuration with ease of conversion between forward and rearward positions. Some convertible child car seats require tools to convert the tether anchoring system between the two positions. Other convertible child car seats may pivot the tether about a center point without changing the position of the tether on the car seat.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages and drawbacks in the known convertible car seats utilizing a tether system, there is a need for a convertible car seat that is cost effective, easily converted between the forward-facing and rearward-facing positions, and that provides a reliable restraint for both rearward and forward car seat positions.
The needs identified above are met, and the shortcomings of prior art car seat designs overcome by the car seat of the present invention. In one aspect, the present invention provides a child restraint for mounting in a passenger seat of a vehicle, the child restraint including a seat body having a child support area disposed on an upper surface thereof and left and right elongate frame members extending from the upper seat back portion to the seat body forward end along the respective left and right sides of the seat body. The child restraint further includes left and right anchor attachments for securing the seat body to the left and right vehicle anchors, each of the left and right anchor attachments including an attachment end coupled to the respective left and right elongate frame members, and an engagement end for connecting the left and right anchor attachments to the respective left and right vehicle anchors located at the vehicle seat bight, wherein the attachment end of the left and right anchor attachment is positionable along the respective left and right elongate frame members between a forward anchor point proximate the forward end for configuring the seat body as a rearward facing car seat and a rearward anchor point proximate the upper back portion for configuring the seat body as a forward facing car seat.
Bars may be used as left and right elongate frame members, such as tubular shaped bars. The elongate frame members may also correspond to a support structure defining a continuous tubular frame of the car seat or a frame member defining a seatbelt pathway for a vehicle seat belt restraint.
The left and right anchor attachments may correspond to a left and right strap each having a first and second end, the first end being secured to the respective left and right elongate frame members and the second end being connected to a latching member for securing the seat body to the respective left and right vehicle anchor. In one particular embodiment, the left and right strap are secured by forming a loop around the respective left and right elongate frame member so as to provide slidably positionable straps for configuring between the forward and rearward facing car seat.
In another aspect of the invention, a child car seat is configurable as both a rearward and forward facing car seat and securable to the left and right vehicle anchors and includes a seat body, a left and right tether, each of which including a first end adapted for releasably securing the left and right tether at the respective left and right vehicle anchor and a second end fixedly retaining the left and right tether to left and right anchoring members fixed to the seat body, wherein the left and right tether are secured to the respective left and right vehicle anchor and extend from the left and right vehicle anchor to the forward anchoring point when the seat body is configured as the rearward facing car seat, and wherein the left and right tether are secured to the respective left and right vehicle anchor and extend from the left and right vehicle anchor to the rearward anchor point when the seat body is configured as the forward facing car seat.
In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for converting a child car seat from a forward facing child car seat to a rearward facing child car seat, the method including the steps of releasing a latching end of each of a left and right tether from the respective left and right vehicle anchors rotating the seat body from a rearward facing to a forward facing position on the vehicle seat, sliding the coupling end of each of the left and right tether along the respective left and right anchoring member so as to re-position the coupling end from the first position to the second position, and attaching the latching end of each of the left and right tether to the respective left and right vehicle anchor.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth or be apparent from the description that follows. The features and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structures and methods particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.